Goal Orientation in Political Science Research Instruction

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2020-01-14

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Ian G. Anson (2020) Goal Orientation in Political Science Research Instruction, Journal of Political Science Education, DOI: 10.1080/15512169.2020.1791144

Rights

This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Political Science Education on 11 Jul 2020, available online: http:// www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15512169.2020.1791144.

Subjects

Abstract

In recent years, scholar-educators have examined a variety of new approaches for teaching research in political science. Many of these inquiries begin with the observation that research activities cause some students to experience trepidation and aversion. The result is often poor performance in courses which assign research. In this project, I review and assess an approach to student research which focuses upon goal-orientation as a determinant of engagement. In doing so, I introduce three strategies for reconsidering goal orientation in the political science classroom. These include client consulting, low-cost survey deployment, and exit polling. These project-based courses are designed to reorient student attitudes towards the research process thanks to the identification of an external audience. Based on a pilot study of a goal-oriented learning experience, results provide suggestive evidence for the benefits of this approach in the undergraduate research setting.